Well, dang. After laboring through 3.0 innings tonight, with depleted velocity, Kyle Hendricks departed the game early with no explanation. Now, we know what’s going on. But it is not very good news.
Kyle Hendricks already sat down once this season with right shoulder soreness (12 days in early June), and now it grabs him again. The injury, itself, is obviously frustrating – for Kyle and for us. But there’s an additional layer for the Cubs: After two really strong starts against the Cardinals and Reds, Kyle Hendricks started popping up as a potentially high-value trade chip for the Cubs this month, given his experience and prior postseason success (and the general value of starting pitchers on the trade market and their rarity).
Hendricks still has time to get healthy and demonstrate his value, if that’s the route the Cubs want to go, but two shoulder injuries in a month span just weeks ahead of the deadline isn’t ideal. I don’t mean to focus on that part – I hope Hendricks is OK (and he could always contribute to the Cubs next season) – but it is an unavoidable part of this conversation. I’m sure we’ll learn more tomorrow.
In the meantime/on the bright side, perhaps this can turn into yet another opportunity to have Caleb Kilian come up and take some starts for the Cubs, who have 11 more games (with one scheduled day off day) before the All-Star break.
Update (10:40 CT): Hendricks spoke after tonight’s game, revealing some key updates: (1) This injury felt exactly like the one that sidelined him last month, which is encouraging to him, though they are still going to get it checked out, (2) he could have pitched through it, but didn’t see the point in risking it (which is smart), and (3) he felt great up to and through his pre-game workout. It wasn’t until his first in-game warmup pitch that anything popped up.